Voices

South Side men maintain their friendship through Sunday night trips to the bar A group of six casually dressed men in their 50s and 60s cluster around a dimly lit bar, watching the football game on TV. The men calmly drink beers, and eat cheddar cheese and crackers with homemade Hungarian peppers prepared especially for this gathering. For the past …

The Rev. Colette Matthews stands out in a male-dominated ministry Purses in the pulpit, stilettos stomping to the beat of drums, lipstick-laden lips singing praises to God and skirts draped at the knee with handkerchiefs. These are the sights and sounds of New Covenant Baptist Church on the South Side of Syracuse under the leadership of the Rev. Colette Matthews. …

I am writing for REACH CNY in response to “Words of Wisdom: Catholic Charities aims to educate Hispanic girls on teen pregnancy.”

Student turned to her teacher after witnessing mother’s murder My father murdered my mother in front of me when I was 10 years old. I remember it like yesterday. My mother lay dying, my father demanding she get up, and I stood crying hysterically. My father told my brother to take me back down the hill to his mother, my …

Bill Zimmer, 56, helps out at a Van Duyn Elementary School third-grade class every day. The students call him “Grandpa.” He is part of a national program called Foster Grandparents that places senior citizens who are older than 55 in classrooms or day care centers as assistants.

A former gang member turned first-generation college student wants to lead by example David Trapps can’t be stopped. His motivation is his time spent in prison. Trapps is 31 years old and the first person in his family to go to college. Though his journey toward becoming a first-generation college student is not a picture-perfect success story, he recalls it …

Fewer veterans of current conflicts are joining the American Legion American Legion Post 1361 needs a few more good men like Josh Hefti. Hefti, a corporal in the Marine Corps Reserves who spent 10 months in Iraq, returned home in 2009 and did the unheard of: He decided to become a member, and is now the Syracuse post’s one and …

After crimes, local business moves in to help restore people’s homes As a longtime police detective, Virgil Hutchinson has spent countless hours investigating crime scenes. While his current police work keeps him confined to his desk for most of the day, Hutchinson spends even more time at crime scenes handling his second job: trauma scene cleanup.

Do you remember the one person who believed in you when you may not have believed in yourself? Who stood by your side when others seemed to walk away? Do you think you might be able to be this positive force in a child’s life? Maybe you didn’t have a mentor growing up. Maybe you always wanted one. Across our …

The story you are about to read is a young man who grew up in Syracuse Housing Authority (SHA) that took advantage of the opportunities given to him from his mentors. We hear so often regarding the negativities that surround our young men who resides in housing. Successful stories are rarely written about those who have the persuasiveness or eagerness …